NEWS
Follow UsIndian captain Rohit Sharma is not a fan of the Impact Player rule in the Indian Premier League, saying it's holding back the development of allrounders. The Impact Player rule was first tried in the 2022-23 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy before being introduced in the IPL last season. It's a rule which allows teams to bring in a 12th player at any point of the match and sub someone out in place of him.
Speaking on the Club Prairie Podcast, Rohit said: "I generally feel that it is going to hold back (development of allrounders) because eventually cricket is played by 11 players, not 12 players. I'm not a big fan of impact player. You are taking out so much from the game just to make it little entertainment for the people around. But if you look at genuinely just cricketing aspect of it…. I can give you so many examples - guys like Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube are not getting to bowl, which for us (India team) is not a good thing."
There are enough quality spin-bowling allrounders in India but the same can't be said about fast-bowling allrounders. Hardik Pandya is the only international-level fast-bowling allrounder India have at their disposal and if and when he gets injured, India's team combination goes for a toss. It is something that has hurt India in the past and it is something that could hurt India in the upcoming T20 World Cup in June.
Hardik hasn't been in great form but India don't have a second option and will hope that the 30-year-old regains some form and stay fit throughout the tournament. There is Shivam Dube who has been scoring runs for fun for Chennai Super Kings but hasn't bowled a single over in the ongoing IPL 2024.
"I don't know what you can do about it, but I'm not a fan of it honestly speaking. Because there's obviously 12 players for you to select from and whoever that impact player is, you can see how the game is going and change it later depending on what you need, what pitch is behaving. If you bat well, if you don't lose wickets, you can add another bowler so it gives you an option of having six or seven bowlers. You don't need that extra batter because a lot of the teams actually upfront are batting well, and then you hardly see Nos. 7 or 8 coming to bat."
On India and Pakistan playing Test cricket
India and Pakistan don't play bilateral series anymore and only come face to face against each other in ICC events. They haven't played an ODI series since 2012-13, while the last time they played a Test match was in 2007. Rohit said it will be "awesome" if India and Pakistan can play red-ball cricket in overseas conditions.
"I totally believe that. They're a good team. They have got a superb bowling line-up. So it'll be a good contest especially if you play overseas conditions. That'll be awesome.
"Yeah, I would love to. At the end of the day, we want to be in contest and I think it will be a great contest between the two sides. We anyway play them in ICC trophies, so it doesn't really matter. It's just pure cricket that I'm looking at. I'm not interested in anything else. It's pure cricket, game between bat and ball. It'll be a great contest."
Play Asli Fantasy on Cricket.com. Download the App Now.
